Tseng’s spectacular year ranks fourth in AP voting

Associated Press -- meet Golf Magazine. The voters at each outlet must have been drinking the same Kool-Aid because both organizations snubbed Yani Tseng as the world’s best athlete for the year coming to a close.

Tseng earned just 24 fourth-place votes of the 214 ballots cast in losing AP’s Female Athlete of the Year award to U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach, who took the 2011 title with 65 votes. Wambach’s World Cup teammate Hope Solo (38 votes) and WNBA hoopster Maya Moore (35) finished ahead of the LPGA Tour golfer, who won 12 worldwide tournaments, became the youngest golfer ever to win five major championships, and generally had a season for the ages.

Yani Tseng was the LPGA Tour's Player of the Year for the second straight season (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

We certainly mean no disrespect for the performances of Wambach and the other worthy women. Wambach’s spectacular head shot in this summer’s World Cup was nothing short of clutch, and the AP noted that it sent celebrities like Tom Hanks, Lil Wayne, and Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers into a frenzy of adoration for the 31-year-old American.

But in a year unmatched by any other professional golfer, Tseng hoisted the hardware in two majors, was the undisputed tour Player of the Year for the second straight season, and snagged the honors in several statistical categories. And it’s not as if the AP had ignored women golfers in the past. Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa owned the award between 2003 and 2007, with Sorenstam a three-time winner. Se Ri Pak, Beth Daniel, and Nancy Lopez were some of the recent recipients as well.

Wonder if tour commissioner Mike Whan will pen a note chiding the AP as he did Golf Magazine for slighting 2011’s best woman athlete and overall best golfer on the planet?